New to Muay Thai, need Rhythm Help.

My primary art has been Tae Kwon Do for about 14 years now. I trained off and on for about 10 of those years in non-TKD gyms by myself, developing my own style and sparring/fighting with others on a regular basis. With the exception of the past 3 years, which I was sick in the hospital for 1 1/2 yrs and then a lazy couch potato for the last 1 1/2 yrs. After this absence I knew I was no longer in any shape to be training by myself but I wanted something with less forms and more fighting and I found a Muay Thai school. I am badly out of shape, as my punches and kicks have even less power now than when I was in TKD. My instructor has me doing double roundhouse from a Muay Thai stance. Long story short, I suck at this unless I have a heavy bag to hit. If I have to hit a TKD focus pad with this combo then I fail miserably. My instructor says I need to work on my rhythm but I am not sure how. I know I am used to a fixed back stance and not the Muay Thai stance and this fact throws me off. Help for this out of shape newbie?

Not sure if I know what your instructor means by rhythm in this case, but I'll give it a shot. Pay attention to the *angle* of approach to target your kick is taking. There is no reason why a heavy bag should be easier to kick (hard) than pads, other than that the pad represents a much smaller target, and basically dictates the angle of approach. If you are coming straight across (parallel to the floor) then pay attention to the height of the kick. When you're kicking the bag, you basically choose the point of impact, but when someone is holding pads for you, they make that choice for you.

My guess is that you're out of shape (like me) and your flexibility is interfering with your ability to perform this kick at all but a narrow range of heights/angles.

One tip on beginning the Thai roundhouse: The body mechanics are very similar to both swinging a bat, and throwing a (in this case rear) hook. Try doing both of these motions and notice how your body moves to generate the power. Try to stay aware of these mechanics when you kick.

Like the other guys said, it just takes time. Coming back from training after a few years of absence can really sting the ego a bit. When I first started kickboxing I had a black belt in TKD in there with about four years of rust on it. Teacher was really confused why my body mechanics were so sucky and this hot stripper girl even let the "YOU'RE a black belt ?!" with the WTF look and all slip when he mentioned it.

Yeah, it stung. But once I kicked the rust off my kicks got to the point where they are at the very least a bit ahead of the bell curve of everyone else, and my TKD training is pretty minimal in comparison to yours.

Pretty pointless giving this guy advice since he's in his first week of training.

For the other tkd/krotty guys taking up MT reading this my biggest tip would be to stop bouncing, once i got that through my thick skull my sparring improved 10 fold.

I don't bounce. But thanks for the advice anyways. The way i was taught TKD was hands up, guard your face and for gods sake keep a solid stance so you can have power in your side kick. I know this slaps all other TKD in the face. This is why the ATA pisses me off so much.

I don't bounce. But thanks for the advice anyways. The way i was taught TKD was hands up, guard your face and for gods sake keep a solid stance so you can have power in your side kick. I know this slaps all other TKD in the face. This is why the ATA pisses me off so much.

I wouldn't place too much stock in the solidity of your stance. Your stance should be more a state of dynamic tension.

Really the only advice that can be given for something like this is "keep training, it'll come eventually unless you're just destined to suck forever which some people are".

I've never personally understood why people talk about "rhythm" being important in fighting. I really don't understand how rhythm could have anything but negative effects for fighting. It's crucial for hitting a speed bag and jumping rope, but the only thing I can see rhythm doing in a fight is getting your moves anticipated because you're getting stuck in a rhythm. Maybe when people say "rhythm" they're actually referring to flow, which is all about relaxation that comes from experience.

Try hitting pads to a song. rhythm helps you string together punches and kicks. Like having that arc that you slide back and forth on. That doesn't mean that you are going to throw five hits in a row with exactly the same time in between. But that is a good start when you are learning.